2021 NCAA champion Nick Lee (Photo/Tony Rotundo; WrestlersAreWarriors.com)Let's take a quick look into the numbers for the last ten years at The Big Dance.
The following is a compilation of finishes starting with NCAA Champions and going through finalists and Top 3's.
Penn State dominated in all categories and the blue bloods along with Iowa, Ohio State, Oklahoma State who were dominant. I'm not sure if you would have included Cornell in the 'elite' category prior to the aughts. But they're most certainly there now. Other great performances came from Missouri and Minnesota. Illinois and Northwestern had surprisingly strong decades. And Pat Popolizio ushered in a new era, and a new level of expectations, at NC State.
Keep in mind that for the 2020 NCAA Championships, I plugged in their respective seeds as their final placement.
Champions This Decade
1. Penn State (27): Nico Megaludis, Roman Bravo-Young, Nick Lee, Zain
Retherford 3x, Frank Molinaro Jason Nolf 3x, Vincenzo Joseph 2x, David Taylor
2x, Mark Hall 2x ('20), Carter Starocci, Matt Brown, Ed Ruth 3x, Aaron Brooks, Bo
Nickal 3x, Quentin Wright, Anthony Cassar
2. Ohio State (11): Nathan Tomasello, Logan Stieber 4x, Luke Pletcher ('20), Myles
Martin, Kollin Moore ('20), Kyle Snyder 3x
3. Iowa (10): Spencer Lee 4x ('20), Matt McDonough, Tony Ramos, Cory Clark, Pat
Lugo ('20), Derek St. John, Alex Marinelli ('20)
4. Oklahoma State (9): Jordan Oliver, Dean Heil 2x, Alex Dieringer 3x, Chris Perry
2x, AJ Ferrari
4. Cornell (9) : Nahshon Garrett, Yianni Diakomihalis 2x, Kyle Dake 2x, Steve
Bosak, Cam Simaz, Gabe Dean 2x
6. Minnesota (4): Tony Nelson 2x, Gable Steveson 2x ('20)
Missouri (4) : Drake Houdasheldt, J'den Cox 3x
Illinois (4) : Jesse Delgado 2x, Isaiah Martinez 2x
9. Northwestern (3) : Jason Tsirtsis, Sebastian Rivera ('20), Ryan Deakin ('20)
North Carolina St. (3) : Nick Gwiazdowski 2x, Mike Macchiavello
11. Iowa State (2) : David Carr, Kyven Gadsen
Northern Iowa (2) : Drew Foster, Taylor Lujan ('20)
Oklahoma (2) : Kendric Maple, Cody Brewer
Arizona St. (2) : Zahid Valencia 2x
Rutgers (2) : Nick Suriano, Anthony Ashnault
16. South Dakota St. (1) : Seth Gross
Lehigh (1) : Darian Cruz
North Carolina (1) : Austin O'Connor
Stanford (1) : Shane Griffith
Virginia Tech (1) : Mekhi Lewis
Michigan (1) : Kellen Russell
Notes: Twenty one schools had an NCAA Champion over this period. The top five schools - PSU, Ohio State, Iowa, Oklahoma St., and Cornell accounted for a whopping 66% of all champs (66 of 100).
Minnesota had just two individual champs this decade. And of Missouri's four titles, J'den Cox earned three of them.
Two of Northwestern's three 'titles' came from the canceled year when both Sebastian Rivera and Ryan Deakin were top seeds.
Finalists This Decade
The Champs listed above plus:
1. Penn St. (40): Nico Megaludis 2x, Nick Lee ('20), Jason Nolf, Vincenzo Joseph
2x ('20), Mark Hall 2x, David Taylor, Matt Brown, Quentin Wright, Bo Nickal,
Morgan McIntosh
2. Iowa (20): Thomas Gilman, Cory Clark 2x, Tony Ramos, Montell Marion, Jaydin
Eierman, Brandon Sorensen, Derek St. John, Michael Kemerer 2x ('20)
3. Ohio State (19): Joey McKenna, Micah Jordan, Sammy Sasso, Bo Jordan, Myles
Martin, Kollin Moore, Kyle Snyder, Nick Heflin
4. Oklahoma State (15): Daton Fix 2x, Jordan Oliver, Josh Kindig, Tyler Caldwell,
Derek White
5. Cornell (13): Nahshon Garrett, Brian Realbuto, Gabe Dean, Max Dean
6. Minnesota (9): Ethan Lizak, Dylan Ness 2x, Brett Pfarr, Tony Nelson
7. NC State (7): Hayden Hidlay 2x ('20), Trent Hidlay, Nick Gwiazdowski
Michigan (7): Stevan Micic, Mason Parris 2x ('20), Adam Coon 2x
9. Missouri (6): Lavion Mayes, Joey Lavallee
Illinois (6): Isaiah Martinez 2x
11. Northwestern (5): Jason Welch, Mike McMullan
Lehigh (5): Brandon Hatchett, Robert Hamlin, Nate Brown, Zach Rey
13. Edinboro (4): Mitchell Port 2x, David Habat, Chris Honeycutt
Virginia Tech (4): Devin Carter, Hunter Bolen ('20), Jared Haught
Wisconsin (4): Seth Gross ('20), Tyler Graff, Connor Medbery
16. Oklahoma (3): Andrew Howe
Arizona St. (3): Brandon Courtney
Rutgers (3): Nick Suriano
Pitt (3): Jake Wentzel, Ty Wilps, Nino Bonaccorsi
20. South Dakota St. (2): Seth Gross
Iowa State (2): Two Champs (see above)
Northern Iowa (2): Two Champs (see above)
North Carolina (2): Austin O'Connor ('20)
Stanford (2): Nick Amuchestegui
Virginia (2): Jack Mueller, George DiCamillo
Nebraska (2): Tyler Berger, Tim Dudley
Wyoming (2): Bryce Meredith 2x
West Virginia (2): Zeke Moisey, Noah Adams ('20)
29. Boise St. (1): Jason Chamberlain
Indiana (1): Taylor Walsh
Princeton (1): Pat Glory ('20)
Rider (1): Jesse Dellavecchia
Lock Haven (1): Ronnie Perry
Kent St. (1): Dustin Kilgore
Maryland (1): Jimmy Sheptock
Notes: Thirty-five different programs were represented in the finals over the past decade. Ohio State edged Iowa in champs, but Iowa flips that in total finalists. Minnesota (5 to 4), NC State (4 to 3), Lehigh (4 to 1) and Michigan (5 to 1), had more runners-up than champs and climb the board.
Wisconsin, Edinboro, and Pitt didn't have a champ but had at least 3 runners-up.
Jason Chamberlain was the last Boise St. finalist ever.
Top Three Finishers
Most Top 3 Finishers By School
Finalists Above Plus The Following
1. Penn St. (44): Nico Megaludis, Dylan Alton, Aaron Brooks ('20), Morgan McIntosh
2. Ohio St. (29): Nathan Tomasello 3x, Joey McKenna, Hunter Stieber, Sammy
Sasso ('20), Bo Jordan 2x, Myles Martin, Kollin Moore
3. Iowa (27): Thomas Gilman, Tony Ramos, Austin DeSanto, Brandon Sorenson,
Tony Cassioppi 2x ('20)
4. Oklahoma St. (22): Nick Piccininni ('20), Alex Dieringer, Tyler Caldwell, Chris
Perry, Cayle Byers, Preston Weigel, Alan Gelogaev
5. Cornell (17): Nahshon Garrett, Chaz Tucker ('20), Steve Bosak, Gabe Dean
6. Minnesota (15): Zach Sanders, Pat McKee, Logan Storley, Brett Pfarr, Scott
Schiller, Gable Steveson
7. Michigan (14): Stevan Micic, Eric Grajales, Alec Pantaleo, Logan Massa, Myles
Amine 3x, Adam Coon
8. Northwestern (12): Sebastian Rivera, Yahya Thomas, Jason Tsirtsis, Ryan
Deakin, Mike McMullan 3x
9. NC State (11): Tariq Wilson 2x, Kevin Jack, Pete Renda
10. Missouri (10): Alan Waters, Jaydin Eierman, Lavion Mayes, Keegan O'Toole
Nebraska (10): Tyler Berger, James Green 2x, Robert Kokesh 2x, Mikey Labriola,
Tim Dudley, Eric Schultz ('20)
12. Illinois (7): Emery Parker
Virginia Tech (7): Devin Carter, Nick Brascetta, Zach Epperly
Edinboro (7): AJ Schopp, Mitchell Port, Vic Avery
15. Wisconsin (6): Tyler Graff, Evan Wick
Lehigh (6): Jordan Kutler
17. Arizona St. (5): Zahid Valencia, Tanner Hall
Stanford (5): Joey McKenna, Real Woods ('20), Shane Griffith ('20)
19. Oklahoma (4): Cody Brewer
Pitt (4): Matt Wilps
Northern Iowa (4): Joe Colon, Parker Keckeisen
22. North Carolina (3): Austin O'Connor
Iowa State (3): David Carr ('20)
Rutgers (3): See Above
25. Princeton (2): Matt Kolodzik
Kent St. (2): Kyle Conel
Lock Haven (2): Chance Marsteller
South Dakota St. (2): See Above
Virginia (2): See Above
West Virginia (2): See Above
Wyoming (2): See Above
32. Cal Poly (1): Boris Novachkov
Binghamton (1): Donnie Vinson
Clarion (1): Bekzod Abdurakhmanov
Appalachian St. (1): Austin Trotman
Columbia (1): Steve Santos
North Dakota St. (1): Steven Monk
Oregon St. (1): Amar Dhesi
Indiana (1): See Above
Rider (1): See Above
Maryland (1): See Above
Boise St. (1): See Above
Notes: Ohio State had ten third place finishers to Iowa's seven enabling them to leapfrog the Hawks into second place for most Top 3's. Michigan had eight 3rds. That was tied for second most behind Ohio State with Nebraska.
What might be most impressive is that Northwestern, with seven 3rd, vaults to overall #8 for the entire decade based on most Top 3's.
Nebraska and Missouri, with 10, was the cutoff for the Top 10 teams best on 3rd or higher for the decade.
Seven schools didn't have a finalist and did have a 3rd placer.
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